The 3rd Saturday Bird Walk for February is this Saturday, the 18th.It is being held in cooperation with the Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council.We are planning to actually have two locations, fairly near each other at Elijah Bristow State Park and in a natural area west and downstream of Dexter dam.Jim Regali and Jim Maloney will be leading the walks. We briefly surveyed the sites last week and recommend hiking or rubber boots because of the muddy trail conditions and wet grass.

The 3rd Saturday Bird Walk for November will be this Saturday, the 19th. We will journey to Kirk Pond & Park, north of Fern Ridge Dam on Clear Lake Road. There is a parking area at the west end of the Park on the north side of the road. - Carpool participants will meet at the usual South Eugene High School east side parking lot at 8 o'clock - look for the Pink Flamingo. Folks wishing to meet the group at Kirk Park can expect the group about 8:30 a.m. or so.

The forecast is for about an inch of rain on Saturday with high winds. I don't want us to have to drive too far, so I am thinking that if there is a window of reasonable weather in the morning that we will go to Delta Ponds off Good Pasture Island road, just north of the car dealers, to see who we see.

I will meet anyone willing to take a chance at the usual South Eugene High School parking lot at 8:00 Saturday morning.

LCAS hosts this annual event. Vaux’s Swifts use the chimney to roost for the night as they gather during their migration stopover. Last year a big group of the birds came through earlier than usual, in late August and early September, so many people missed them. We may see several thousand birds entering the chimney, but nothing is guaranteed! It’s entertaining to observe the swifts swirl down the chimney at night, before they continue on their journey to Central and South America for the winter.

This Saturday's Bird Walk will be at the north side of Mount Pisgah. The leader will be Dennis Arendt who anticipates seeing a variety of songbirds and woodpeckers. Those wishing to meet at the location will need a Lane County/Arboretum parking permit. We will rendezvous about 8:30 a.m. at the north parking lot, which is reached by turning left after crossing the bridge over the Coast Fork of the Willamette River. We will also do the usual carpooling from South Eugene High School's east parking lot at 8:00 a.m.. We will have a few permits and if you have one please bring it.

Canoe or kayak trip to Fern Ridge Lake, led by Dick Lamster and Maeve Sowles

Join us for a bird-watching-by-canoe (or kayak) trip to Fern Ridge Lake.You will need to furnish your own canoe or kayak and lifejackets (required). Each craft needs an Aquatic Invasive Species Prevention Permit. See www.boatoregon.com for more information on this required permit. If you do not have a canoe or kayak, call anyway because other participants may have extra space in their craft.

This Saturday's Bird Walk will be at the Royal Avenue section of Fern Ridge Wildlife Area. Our leaders will be Rebecca Waterman and Nick Paget. They plan to be at the Royal Avenue parking area at 7:00 a.m. for those that would like to get an early start to the warm day. Others of us will be leaving the usual carpool place at South Eugene High School parking at the usual time of 8:00 a.m. and we will get together with the other folks out at the site.